Traveling always goes hand in hand with suitcases, no matter how bulky or compact it may be. That’s why, when you go for an adult gap year experience, being prepared always count.

Even if you are taking student gap year, you should also know how to pack things up properly. Therefore, we have here various lists of the things you need to pack during your gap year travel.

Bags
When we say bags, it covers the travel bag, day sack, and even the sleeping bag. You may bring your preferred stroller or back pack, but it’s doubtful that you need more than 65 liters. This bag should be inside a large plastic bag, for protection purposes. As for the day sack, you will put here your things fit for a long journey. Basically, the things you will pack here are the important things only. Put in here a spare set of clothes and underwear in your day sack when you’re traveling.

Medical Kit
Bandages, antiseptic wipes, gauze and scissors are the things you might want to bring in healing wounds and simple cuts. As for health issues, paracetamol, ibuprofen, imodium, water purification tablets, bite cream, antihistamines, sanitary products and prescription drugs are also recommended.

Toiletries
Of course, you also have to bring your personal toiletries like suncream, dry wash or all-purpose biodegradable soap, and if you want, mosquito nets. You don’t want getting hassled assisting yourself with your health and welfare needs once you get to your target destination already, right?

Clothing
Now, when we say clothing, there is so much we can name of. You will always dress yourself according to the occasion, right? So since you are going for an adult gap year, you will dress yourself appropriately as well.

For clothes, you will need -shirts, vest tops, long sleeved shirt, long trousers/skirts, shorts, fleece or hoodie, a few pairs of underwear and socks are all the staples. As for footwear, hard wearing- and already broken in- boots are good options especially when you are hiking; and flipflops or sandals for beach times. Other clothing also includes travel towel, sarong, and a lightweight waterproof jacket.

Miscellaneous
Let’s make the things in this section more systematically written. Here are the lists:

o Torch/head torch
o Batteries
o Solar/wind-up charger
o Padlock with Combination Lock
o Penknife
o Sunhat
o Sewing Kit
o Alarm Clock
o Stuff Sacks
o Money Belt
o Washing Line
o Universal Plug Adaptors
o Sink Plug
o Camera
o Mobile Phone
o Important documents

Are you looking for the a gap year learning which you think does not only give you knowledge with how realistic it is to stay in a third-world country, but it also open your eyes to situations where money is not really the main thing that is important.

If you ever go to these top ten gap year destinations enlisted below, it will surely touch your heart. You will really feel compelled to help, assist, and render your time and effort for the benefit of the children, underprivileged communities, and even the Mother Nature itself.

South Africa
Some people just want to go for their suitable gap year travel and choose to cater animals instead of people. Well, there is nothing wrong with it, of course. In fact, volunteers and interns from various countries in South Africa are indeed in need of your heart and hand to cater the animals in the savanna.

You may want to assist the wildlife research with lions, help raise tigers, go for hands-on work with endangered wildlife, monitoring great white sharks, and have a hands-on experience taking care of elephants. These are going to be incredible experiences for someone who has passion for animals.

Costa Rica
Oh, the “rich coast” country where paradises like beach and other incredible water forms are both enjoyed and taken cared of. This is also the country where you can have various opportunities to touch children’s lives.

If children are your passion, then you may want to learn Spanish or English and work with children, help build homes for underprivileged families, and work in community services. Otherwise, you may go for beach and forest conservation in the country, and go for Sea turtle conservation either in the Pacific coast if you want to serve the nature.

Kenya
Kenya is one of the top destinations of those who choose gap year learning. Here they can volunteer and have a community work with children, help build houses with the underprivileged communities, teach English, participate in ecology conservation, and be a part of a community work with AIDS orphans.

Tanzania
Fascinated with the snow capped peaks of Mount Kilimanjaro and the serenity of Great Rift Valley? Well, Tanzania then is a good place for a gap year for you.

Here you can also be part of the large mission the country is continuously implementing. With your willingness and availability, the country will surely appreciate your effort to volunteer. You can choose community work with young children, teach English, help improve the wildlife safari, assist in beautifying the wildlife beaches, and work with disadvantaged children. All these are worth doing for in Tanzania. You might be interested then.

Are you planning to take a gap year learning lately? If you do, have you planned which destination you are going to? Do you know what kind of work experience you would like to take?

All these questions and concerns will be organized once you log in to your gap year site of your choice. It’s rampant in the Internet. When you search gap year on your browsers, you can find lots of options that make you organize your gap year in an instant.

According to a gap year site, there are four ways you can gain work experience on your gap year. These are voluntary work, structured work placements, unpaid work (internships), and paid work. Perhaps one of these ways is your options for a gap year experience?

Voluntary Work
When it comes to obtaining work experience, volunteering is the most essential way of inquiring it. No wonder this is the most popular activity. It actually provides with unmerited experience that no other paid jobs can provide.

When it comes to voluntary work, projects and individual placements are divided in various options. It could be in forms of courses, cultural studies and exchanges, and more.

Structured Work Placements
Are you particular on fields like engineering, science, IT, e-commerce, business, marketing, finance and logistics? Various companies are offering structured work placements but within Year out Group the Year in Industry (YINI) only. Usually, this kind of opportunity is offered in the United Kingdom. If you are interested, these structured work placements are being offered on famous companies like Rolls Royce, L’Oreal, Shell, AstraZeneca, Network Rail, and even other smaller organizations.

Unpaid Work or Internships
Internships are very important when it comes to experiences that pertains the field that you are trying to master. Your field might include international development, journalism, marketing, conservation, entertainment, media, law, and sports. It could take in a few weeks or months depending on your suitability.

The distressing part of having an internship is that you don’t necessarily have a financial income with it. Nevertheless, the things that you will be learning throughout the internship are inevitable.

Paid Work
Paid work, as far as gap year learning is concerned, is honestly seasonal and is not necessarily well-paid compared to a real employment that pays appropriately. But, since this is gap year, paid work provides functional working experiences. In fact, it could also be good fun especially when you do a gap year experience concerning sports like surfing and skiing.

So, have you chosen which working experience do you prefer to take for a gap year?

This story is about a friend of mine called Christopher Dingley. After graduating High School, Chris and a couple of his friends wanted to do a Gap Year Travel and so they went to some great places around the world for 5 months and did great gap year activities. On their trip, they saw amazing things and met people they will never forget…

The friends started off by visiting and travel Thailand; this is one of the most beautiful cheap places in the world. You can see a lot without spending too much money. The nightlife is also very good in Thailand. But in order to do more cultural stuff, Chris and his friends went to travel Cambodia and visit Vietnam where they saw great statues and buildings and relived the war in Vietnam by wandering through the tunnels, seeing the horrible traps from the Vietnamese people and even shooting with guns.

Afterwards, the gap year trip continued towards Singapore, Australia and especially New Zealand where they did amazing stuff. Chris told me that New Zealand was one of his best experiences and everyone has to go there if you have the opportunity. The only negative part, he said, is that it’s very expensive because you want to do as much as possible: walking in glaciers, visiting crocodile farms, going on boat trips, skydiving over the best place in the world to do so, and this is just a little summary of all the great opportunities of the South Pacific island.

At the Fiji Island, Chris and his friends experienced the slow, relaxing way of life at one of the most magical beaches in the world. They travelled extremely beautiful islands for three weeks and prepared themselves for more mainstream stuff. Because afterwards, they visited Hollywood and other attractions in Los Angeles, went to travel Mexico and they finished their perfect trip in a perfect way by going to Las Vegas and live the Las Vegas life for one night.

Talking about a good way to experience a gap year program, I think Chris and his friends topped it all

Brazil is in South America and the biggest of the countries in the continent. Thus I chose it to be my destination for a gap year travel Brazil and secondly because it is a Catholic country. I am interested to be immersed in a Catholic community rather quite different in what I was used to. In my home country there are a few Catholics to mingle with but here the whole country is a Catholic and it is a baffling experience.

Right every after volunteer Brazil I will go together with my friends and join in the church service. The irony of it was that the church activity is just a side activity. Yet, I found so much meaning in everything. In my home country I was also involve with the church service but here there are so many people inside the church; there are so many people who pray.

The locals and the agency made sure that I will have the chance to see the tourist attractions in the place like Sao Paulo, Rio de Janeiro and Fernando de Noronha. Yet Rio de Janeiro made the most impact.

have you visited the Biggest Christ in Rio de Janeiro? Or if you have been to the place how did you savor the experience? Did you tour it haphazardly or you toured it slowly and take every piece of the enchanting scenery as much as the brain could take and record and took hundreds of pictures? I did just the later… and the mere fact that I was walking with the believers also added meaning to the whole experience. The statue of the Redeemer in Rio de Janeiro stands 120 feet tall and was made of soapstone. It was included now in the Seven Wonders of the World situated on top of the Corcovado Mountain.

I did my soul searching on very top of this mountain on my gap year Brazil.

Travel is expensive. School is expensive. But you can have both by doing gap year abroad. I am no savvy traveler but my heart cries out for real travel. I had saved both for school and for travel. And to tell you I wanted to do both and hit three birds in one stone. Gap year adventure can give these ‘wantings’ of my heart. I can travel, see the paces where the gods go and at the same time get the university slot I had been rooting for.

I wanted my travel to be not just another travel. I wanted to do it with a big bang…perhaps not on a luxury basis but I wanted to visit places that have real impact on the travel itinerary. I wanted to see something that will last if not for a lifetime but for several hundred of years. For me that is the true meaning of choosing a gap year travel destinations.

Machu Picchu is a very unique name that even reading will make you think on how to pronounce it. Besides the name the information about is totally blank until I searched on it online. Impressions were made. Pictures were created. But the fact remains it is calling me to come for a visit during my gap year adventure.

The place is actually an Inca Empire located on a mountain in Peru and is referred to as the lost city of Incas. The intoxicating beauty that it has will baffle anyone that will see it. Its history and structure is rich and is a UNESCO site.

If the picture will enthrall you then perhaps so will the real place? It is said that Machu Picchu is made by the Inca rulers and was abandoned. It is located between mountains and is North West of Cusco; from here you can have a train ride and arrive in Aguas Calientes and ride a bus going to the site itself.

You can not expect to really savor the sight alone for foreigners abound in the area. Thus, an early morning walk or late evening walk is a better way of visiting to avoid the crowd. Yet the best way to travel to Machu Picchu is through trekking. The activity is controlled by the government and thus your safety is assured. By doing this you will arrive and appreciate your arrival in the site more. You will enter the site through the Sun Gate… and the experience is priceless.

Australia is now leading the top list for destinations for a gap year exchange programs. The country will make sure that your gap year yesterday in Australia will be with you for the rest of your life. Gap year travel is most common in European countries but now the American education system already encourages their students to take a gap year for it actually complements formal education.

The intangible effects of a gap year travel are in fact the most powerful, moving and influential among students life. And parents are looking and searching for a place to make this gap year travel phenomenon a reality- and they have found- Australia. Gap year programs Australia had been hitting the top charts for favorite destination for almost two years in a row. And the mysteries will be uncovered now.

Australia as a destination for gap year travel can offer the gappers so many world known attractions. The Great Barrier Reef is one of Australia’s great tourist attractions that every decent tourist should visit and see in Australia. It is composed of 1,400 miles long and of course the largest natural attraction in the world. Every world known magazine such as National Geographic had already featured the best of the Great Barrier Reef. But by visiting the location you will experience more than amazement and more than words can describe.

Gap year programs worldwide find Australia a most complete destination for the said travel. From the West of Australia you will destinations like Mitchell Falls, Karajini and The Bungles top of the list. In the north side of Australia it is bordered by great tourist destinations like Katherine Gorge, Litchfiel ad Darwin. Kangaroo Island and Nullabour, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania are also the perfect place to visit in the south part of the country.

The mystery actually with Australia is never a hidden mystery but something that each student that joins a gap year exchange programs can enjoy and discover.